CELTIS MISSISSIPPIENSIS Bosc. Sugarberry. (× 1/2.)
Trees with leaves 3-nerved at the base; flowers of two kinds on different branches of the same tree or on different trees; the staminate in long catkins, calyx 4-parted, petals none, stamens 4, the pistillate catkins short; fruit an aggregate of drupes.
| Leaves softly pubescent beneath | [1 M. rubra.] |
| Leaves glabrous beneath, or with a few hairs on the veins or in the axils | [2 M. alba.] |
1. Morus rùbra Linnæus. Red Mulberry. [Plate 64.] Medium sized trees with short trunks and round heads; twigs at first green and puberulent, soon becoming glabrous and later usually turning gray; leaves ovate or somewhat orbicular, frequently 2-3 lobed, average mature blades 10-15 cm. long, more or less cordate at the base, abruptly taper-pointed, rough and glabrous above and finely pubescent beneath; fruit ripening in June or July, 1.5-3 cm. long, dark purple or nearly black, edible; wood light, soft, rather tough, coarse-grained, and durable in contact with the soil.
Distribution.—Southern Ontario west to eastern Dakotas, south to the Gulf States and west to Texas. Found throughout Indiana, although there are no records for the extreme northwestern counties. Throughout our area it must be regarded as infrequent. It is only here and there that you find a tree, and I have never seen it where there were even a small number of trees close together. In the northern part of the State it is usually found in a moist well drained soil, associated with trees such as beech and sugar maple, or in lower ground with slippery elm and linn. It has no particular affinity for streams. In the southern part of the State it is found in both rich and poor soils. However, it is most often met with near the base of slopes.
Remarks.—This tree seldom has a clear bole of more than 3-5 m. and is usually a tree about 20 cm. in diameter, rarely as large as 6 dm. in diameter, although there is a record[48] of a tree in Georgia that was "7 feet in diameter at 3 feet above the ground."